Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The trial just got interesting.

I was just about to leave home to work when I heard a big bang…Uh, oh…I won't be able to reach the clinic today, I told Mohammed.The explosion was probably less than a mile away so I knew the roads around us would be soon blocked. And minutes later I found they were.

I decided to go back to bed but then I heard that a new session of Saddam's trial was scheduled for today. Recalling the past few sessions, I thought that was a good idea to watch while lying on the couch as it would soon bore me to sleep. But soon I discovered I was wrong in my assumption…

Today's session of Saddam's trial which is the thirteenth can be considered a session of truth, not that the judge or the prosecution team did any better but mainly because of the amount of evidence that was revealed today.

The session began as usual and as expected with lots of exchanged yelling and whining from defendants, the judge and the defense team until the prosecutor turned the tide when he began presenting loads of documents that prove the guilt of Saddam and his gang, especially his half-brother Barzan and the chief of the infamous revolution court Awad al-Bandar.Barzan had been denying any connection for the intelligence service (Mukhabarat) he headed with the Dujail massacre claiming that the intelligence was solely responsible for watching non-Iraqis and had nothing to do with internal cases like Dujail where the suspects were Iraqis.

However, the documents uncovered today showed that Barzan was personally deeply involved in following up the case and "interrogating" the suspects and their families.The documents were presented in chronological order in a way that literally stunned Saddam and Barzan who barely uttered a few words during the more than an hour-long presentation.Dozens of documents that look authentic and carried the signatures of Saddam, Barzan and other criminals were displayed; the earliest ones go back to as early as 2 days after the assassination attempt with the latest dated 7 years after that showing all stages of the massacre from interrogation to sentencing the 148 resident of Dujail to signing and approving and executing the death sentence to finally following up a couple of prisoners who mistakenly were let out to be later recaptured and executed.

The documents revealed some unbelievably terrifying facts about the Dujail massacre; can you imagine that when orders were given to execute the 148 "convicts" the prison authorities executed only 96 of them. Why?Because the remaining 48 "convicts" had already passed away during "interrogation"!! What kind of interrogation was that killed one third of the suspects?!

The people I spoke to during and after watching the session were pleased with the way the trial went this time. Today's session wiped away the bad impression many of us had about the last few sessions where the trial looked like a circus by all standards but today things were different and we were able to see a reasonably professional trial that relied on much more facts and much less rhetoric.Actually no one had to say anything, the papers spoke for themselves and for the horrendous crimes of Saddam and his fellow criminals.

Again, I'm glad they choose this case to begin Saddam's trial with; it's probably the only case that can be supported with so many documents unlike many of the later crimes that were conducted after verbal orders.

Prepare for going back to your hole Saddam, but this time, nobody is going to pull you out.